FA to use Beckham and Queen to boost 2018 World Cup bid

London, Oct.8 (ANI): England football star David Beckham and the Royal Family will be used by the Football Association (FA) to boost their bid for the 2018 World Cup.

FIFA bigwig Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago caused huge embarrassment to England's bid with an outspoken attack at a conference in London.

The CONCACAF President accused the "lightweight" English team of arrogance before the vote next year - and failing to use big names like Beckham to support the campaign.

"If I had had the Premier League, Beckham and the Queen, there would have been many things I could have done for the people who are voting," he said. "I am saying that if you don't get your act together, you will lose."o try to limit the PR damage in the farce, FA president Lord Triesman and bid chief executive Andy Anson called an emergency press conference to rebut the charges.

Triesman claimed they had learned the lessons from the unsuccessful 2006 bid - and stated there was still 15 months of campaigning before the vote in December 2010.

"We will use those individuals like David Beckham and hopefully members of the Royal Family in our own time and in the right place," he said.

"They are important to our bid and on board. It was always going to be a campaign where we would move onto a higher profile. Jack's making a point that we need to get to that point. It is in tune with what we set out for ourselves," Triesman added.

Warner, who controls five votes on FIFA's 24-man executive committee, insisted England playing a friendly in Trinidad and Tobago last year had not guaranteed his support.

And he was furious the England U20 team refused to play a warm-up game against his country before the recent World Championships because "they did not want to get injured by minions from the Caribbean".

He added: "England cannot count on our vote for World Cup - it is time to wake up. (ANI)